The Contrasts of Magi's visit to Jesus

This week is the Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Epiphany means “a manifestation of a divine or supernatural being or “a moment of sudden and great revelation or realisation.” The story, which starts in the season of Epiphany, is the story of the Magi’s journey to pay homage to Jesus, the Christ child, born in Bethlehem.

The story of the Magi’s sojourn to Jesus is a story full of contrasts, and contrast a good because they can break open the doors to our hearts and minds and help us encounter God in Scripture in new ways, ways that have the potential to be liberating, healing, and hope-filled.

Jerusalem is the centre of religious, economic, and political power; this is the place where the Magi expect to find a king, and this is the place where we too might expect to see a king, a leader, a liberator, in the royal halls, in a place of importance, in a city of significance. But the place that the Magi except, where it made sense to find Jesus, is not the place. The place is Bethlehem. In the land of Judah, Bethlehem is a seemingly inconsequential place inhabited by people at the margins – peasants, just like Mary and Joseph. However, Bethlehem is the place where God’s work begins, work that will threaten the imperial power entrenched in Jerusalem, shatter boundaries, and bring new life.

King Herod and his advisors, the political & religious elite, stand in stark contrast to the Magi. The Magi are wise men, astrologers, pagans from the East, outsiders, strangers, and aliens who have travelled far following that “star of wonder.” What’s more, these Magi, these outsiders, came seeking this new king with curiosity. When the king wasn’t where they expected, and they were told he was in an insignificant town on the margins of the empire, they kept going; they kept searching. The Magi came with an attitude of humility, wonder, and reverence. They came with an attitude of generosity, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, gifts fit for a king. King Herod, along with his advisors, the political and religious elite, on the other hand, were filled with terror and sought to do all he could to secure his wealth, power, and privilege.

God is at work at the margins of the empire versus at the centre of wealth and power. Outsiders versus insiders. God begins to open the way of God to all people. God breaking boundaries. Attitudes of curiosity, humility, wonder and generosity versus violence, arrogance, fear, and the pursuit of power and privilege.

Contrasts are good. Contrast invites reflection.

Perhaps we need to reflect on where we locate ourselves and our community in this story? Are we Herod? Hellbent on doing things our way? Protecting the status quo? Locked into specific ways of doing and being? Unwilling to see how God might be at work in new or different ways in, through, and around us?

Or are we like the Magi? Curious. Open to searching for God in the places where we might not expect God to be? Humble? Do we, or are we, approaching God with wonder and reverence? Wonder again at God’s coming into the world. Wonder at God’s love, which is extended to all. Wonder at God’s love for us? Do we come to God bearing gifts fit for a king? Time, money, our lives?

If you are like me, the answer is likely both. There are moments of Maginess and moments of Herodness. Moments of surprise, wonder, beauty, awe, and gratitude to God for how God works in my life and the lives of those around me. And there are moments of Herodness. Moments of frustration, fear, and anxiety when things don’t go as I planned. When God goes off script and operates in counterintuitive, counterproductive, strange, or unusual ways.

As we reflect on the story of the Magi’s visit to Jesus, as we reflect again on the upside-down nature of the Commonwealth of God, as we think about the Maginess and the Herodness that exists within us, may more of the attitude of the Magi bubble to the surface in us. May we, through the power of the Holy Spirit, resist the ways of Herod in us, ways that seek to protect our power and privilege, ways that close us off from what God is doing, the ways of fear and anxiety. In those challenging moments, in those bumps in the road, when we feel things aren’t working out as they should, may we, like the Magi, keep searching for Jesus. And when we find Jesus, may we be filled with more curiosity, humility, wonder, and generosity at the lifegiving work of Jesus in us, through us, and around us.

As we enter this new year, may we be more like the Magi, searching and finding, full of wonder, reverence, gratitude, generosity, and joy.